Shopping centre asset enhancement strategies and customer satisfaction

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is a crucial factor leading to the business success in service industry. Especially for the highly competitive shopping centre sector, management is required to research on methods to attract and retain customers in order not to lose market share and remain to be profitable. It is common for management of aged shopping centres to undergo renovation which is a kind of asset enhancement measures in meeting the changing customer satisfaction apart from restoring the physical condition of the shopping centre to a better stage. However, there are few researches focusing on the relationship between asset enhancement and customer satisfaction. In view of this, in our research, the relationship between asset enhancement and customer satisfaction will be investigated. After analyzing how different aspects of asset enhancement relate with customer satisfaction, management of shopping centre could tailor made their own asset enhancement program aiming for maximizing customer satisfaction. From the literatures reviewed, we are of the opinion that both asset enhancement and customer satisfaction are inter-related, and probably a positive relationship exists between these two concepts in theory. In order to testify if in reality this relationship exists, we had conduct a case study on a medium-scale shopping centre which had undergone renovation in recent years. To compile a more representative research, our target shopping centre will be located next to another larger scaled territorial shopping centre. The case study target will be Optimall located in Tsuen Wan, which has performed renovation during year 2013 and 2014. This shopping centre is located next to Citywalk which is a larger scale shopping centre. Data will be collected from customers and management. 200 surveys will be conducted on repeated customers whom visited Optimall before and after the renovation. Their shopping habits, satisfaction and opinion on various shopping centre aspects will be collected. Management of Optimall will also be interviewed regarding the renovation performed such as reason for undertaking renovation, difficulties during renovation and how the completion of renovation affects the shopping centre operation. According to our findings, we conclude that positive relationship exists between asset enhancement and customer satisfaction. Different asset enhancement methods would affect customer satisfaction in a different degree. From the case of Optimall, we found that the improvement in visibility affected the customer satisfaction greatly. The asset enhancement methods in accessibility and customer service improvements only affected the customer satisfaction moderately. As every shopping centre is unique and the target group of customer is different, other management of similar scale shopping centres should research thoroughly before performing renovation. Incorrect planning may in extreme case impose a negative effect on customer satisfaction instead of raising the satisfaction level. Management is reminded to periodically review the customer satisfaction as the change the market trend and customer taste across time will affect the customer satisfaction. One-off renovation project without further improvement will eventually cause customer dis-satisfaction. Management is also reminded to perform cost and benefit analysis on the investment cost of renovation projects and to avoid over-investment in renovation.